Associate Judges Motions Civil Motions Unpacked

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A seasoned Associate Judge (formerly Master) of the Superior Court of Justice (Ontario), Associate Justice Abrams used to be a civil litigator, first with Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP and later Torys LLP. In parallel with her law practice, she served as an adjudicator (and Vice Chair) at the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board and at the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board. She now serves as a member of the executive of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice. Associate Justice Abrams has presented at a number of CLE programs; she has acted as a coach for the National Judicial Institute (NJI) judicial dispute resolution/settlement conference programs, and for more than a decade, she co-taught the Osgoode Hall Law School "Lawyer as Negotiator" course. She is also the co-author of Canadian Civil Procedure Law, 1st and 2nd Editions (LexisNexis), The Practitioner’s Evidence Law Sourcebook (LexisNexis), Halsbury’s Laws of Canada - Civil Procedure and Interim Preservation of Property Rights (LexisNexis), Canadian Credit Union Law - A Detailed Survey (CCH Canadian), and is a contributor to LexisNexis Practical Guidance.

Associate Justice Josefo has been an Associate Justice (formerly Master) of the Superior Court of Justice (Ontario) for six years. Before his appointment, for 28 years, Associate Justice Josefo was a civil litigator, practicing primarily but not exclusively in Labour and Employment Law and Human Rights law as it pertained to employment. From 1999 through 2018, he was a Vice-Chair of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT). For nine years, until 2018, Associate Justice Josefo also served as a member of the corporate board of the National Research Council (NRC), Canada’s leading science and technology agency operating under the aegis of the Ministry of Industry. He served as an elected public school board trustee in the 1990s. Associate Justice Josefo admits that his most arduous challenge in the past decade was serving as the founding co-Chair of an owners’ group, then President, of his condominium corporation for five years, followed by remaining on that board for two more interminable years!

Deputy Judge Mark Gannage, previously of Torys, McCarthy Tétrault, Stikeman Elliott, and Goodmans, is a litigation counsel and a certified adjudicator who has served on various tribunals. He has given seminars and workshops to judges, lawyers, judicial law clerks, and law students on legal writing and other topics, and has moderated numerous education programs, author talks, and TLA special events. He is the author of Gannage’s Ontario Civil Litigation Commentary and Checklist (Thomson Reuters), three chapters in Bullen & Leake & Jacob's Canadian Precedents of Pleadings (Thomson Reuters), published articles in the Annual Review of Civil Litigation, The Advocates’ Quarterly, and other refereed journals, and two federal law reform works. He is a contributing editor of the Toronto Law Journal. A former full-time and adjunct law professor, Deputy Judge Gannage conceived, designed, and taught U of T Law School’s first course in Advanced Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing. He was the first (and last!) Head of Legal Research and Analysis of the now-defunct Bar Admission Course.